Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike

Experience the “fascinating, rich”—and often harrowing—history of the Klondike Gold Rush through the stories of Jack London and 5 other men and women at a Canadian Yukon boomtown ( The Globe and Mail ).

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE TV MINISERIES, KLONDIKE

Between 1896 and 1899, thousands of people lured by gold braved a grueling journey into the remote wilderness of North America. Within two years, Dawson City, in the Canadian Yukon, grew from a mining camp of 400 to a raucous town of over 30,000 people. The stampede to the Klondike was the last great gold rush in history.

Scurvy, dysentery, frostbite, and starvation stalked all who dared to be in Dawson. And yet the possibilities attracted people from all walks of life—not only prospectors but also newspapermen, bankers, prostitutes, priests, and lawmen. Gold Diggers follows 6 stampeders:

• Jack London , who left without gold, but with the stories that would make him a legend
• Bill Haskell , a farm boy who hungered for striking gold
• Father Judge , a Jesuit priest who aimed to save souls and lives
• Belinda Mulrooney , a 24–year–old who became the richest businesswoman in town
• Flora Shaw , a journalist who transformed the town’s governance
• Sam Steele , the officer who finally established order in the lawless town

Drawing on letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, and stories, Charlotte Gray delivers an enthralling tale of the gold madness that swept through a continent and changed a landscape and its people forever.